Teller County Bike Ride Tour!
(Woodland Park - Divide - Florissant - Cripple Creek)
August 25, 2002
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I walked out of church this morning and Pikes Peak Denise (See Album) and her two kids were in the parking lot to cheer me on as I began my Teller County bike tour! |
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My buddy Don warned me in the parking lot to be careful ... and I was. |
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So that's the main view of Pikes Peak from Woodland Park. |
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The ride up to Divide on Route 24 is generally uphill. And yes, I really did make it all the way to Florissant and then up to Cripple Creek! |
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So I arrive in Divide and see the turn off to Cripple Creek. Do I go that way? Noooooooooooooo! Stupid Steve decides to go the LONG WAY ... he decides to bike to Florissant and then take the back way to Cripple Creek! |
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A cute llama farm! |
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This clearly visible sign on the side of the road always amuses me. |
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Arrival in Florissant, elevation 8,200 feet. And yep, that's my crappy bike that I've been riding for the last month. (I know... I know... girl's frame!) :) |
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The signs give a lot of historical information about the Ute Indians, who once lived and thrived in the area that is now known as Ute Pass. (Click the picture to read for yourself!) |
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From Florissant, I took Teller County Road 1, which leads to Cripple Creek after 18 miles! |
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There's a nice-looking historic home just before you reach the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. |
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Route 67, the main highway to Cripple Creek, is very scenic, but Highway 1 also offers some rather nifty mountain scenery. |
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Okay, generally speaking, it's uphill from Florissant to Cripple Creek. For the first 7 miles, it was a very gradual uphill, but as I approached those mountains, I knew the last ten miles would be the most painful! :( |
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Lots of interesting-looking rocks! |
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Up, up, up I went! Friends riding up Mount Pisgah (as I later learned) is probably more painful than riding up Ute Pass ... or maybe my legs were just so tired after riding all the way from Woodland Park. |
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As I was literally crawling uphill, Don caught up with me on his motorcycle. I gave myself the reward of having a HUGE DINNER with Don in Cripple Creek when the bike trip was over. |
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By the way, generally speaking, when you see this sign and you're on a bike, that's very good news or very bad news depending on which direction you're going! :) |
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Because it's been so dry in Colorado, some aspens in the very high country are already turning yellow. |
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Good Grief, I kept going UP, UP, UP! After going up one of many nasty switchbacks, I was almost there to Cripple Creek. The peak in the picture is Mount Pisgah. |
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Badly sunburned, out of water and physicall exhausted, folks, I can't tell you how happy I was to ride past this sign! :) |
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Don absolutely rocks! He immediately came to pick me up and loaded up my bike... |
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...but not before we had dinner at Bronco Billy's! I had a double hamburger with fries. YUMMY! Oh by the way, I played slots for awhile as I waited for Don to arrive, and I won ELEVEN BUCKS! :) |
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See how sunburn my legs got? :( |
